I can't be the only one who remembers R&B singer Sammie, stealing our hearts with the sounds of puppy love at the tender age of 13. Before our very eyes, he's gone from "I Like It" to a grown and sexy "I Love It" two decades later. And we are more than here for it.
The crooner has always been easy on the ears, but has elicited quite a few heart eye emojis (and maybe a few "drip" ones too) over the years from us. Just one look at his Instagram page and you'll see his glaring evolution through his titillating photos, candid captions, and you know we can't forget the Zaddy beard. But even deeper than surface-level attraction, the 31-year-old has proven time and time again how talented he truly is. His new single "Times 10" shows the singer taking a more explicit approach with lyrics like "I'm a real life freak, we can fuck on my sheets."
Sammie - Times 10 (Trailer) ft. Lil Babywww.youtube.com
There's no wonder our eyes get low, our cheeks blush, and our knees buckle whenever a song of his hits our "mood" playlist. xoNecole decided to chat with the artist about monogamy, how past relationships have shaped him into the man he is today, and the sounds we can expect to hear from his forthcoming project, Everlasting.
Sammie On the Type of Music We Can Expect to Hear from Him...
Sammie: I'm diverse. I give you love, I give you pain, I give you passion. I talk about the art of monogamy and trying to master that. I talk about infidelity, so it's kinda a love story. The album is called Everlasting. The reason why I entitled [it] that was because every relationship, good or bad, happy, sad, one night stands has had an everlasting effect on [the] man that I've become so it's not just sex at all; it's about everything that I've gone through in my 14 years of dating.
Courtesy of Sammie
"Every relationship, good or bad, happy, sad, one night stands has had an everlasting effect on [the] man that I've become so it's not just sex at all. It's about everything that I've gone through in my 14 years of dating."
Sammie On What He’s Learned from His mom About Relationships...
Sammie: My mom is my queen and I started dating at the age of 17, but of course I was still living under her roof so I had to get permission so I wasn't sneaking on the phone talking to my girl. She just told me to be mindful in how you treat women, karma is real, you reap what you sow and all your decisions good or bad will have an everlasting effect. That conversation and idiom at 31 has now resonated.
Sammie On How His Relationships Have Shaped the Man He is Today...
Sammie: I'm a Pisces, I've always been more emotional than the average man. I've been singing to women since I was 12, they were little girls and then teenagers and now we've all grown together. I was always becoming this guy. Every relationship I've gone through, I've learned more and more about myself and I don't like the demons about myself, the dark side. I think the way to fix it is to admit that you have a problem, address it, look yourself in the mirror, and slowly chisel away at what it is you don't fancy about yourself and I've done that. And so I've finally become the man that I've always thought I could be.
Sammie On Heartbreak...
Sammie: I've had my heart broken. Unfortunately, I've also shattered a couple of hearts, nothing I'm proud of. No matter how many women I have in my life, that's not something that's – that's not a trophy to me. I wish I didn't do a lot of those things. However, you can't take back the past, you can only hopefully learn the lesson and apply what it is you learn and progress accordingly.
Sammie On Preferring Monogamy Over Casual Dating
Sammie: I'm a relationship guy. Like my shortest relationship was three years, I was with a girl for four, another girl for four and a half [years], and then three, so that's about 11 years of life and I'm only 31. Eleven years of my life I've been in long relationships so now I'm looking forward to the one where it's forever. I don't want to do three or four years and realize she's not my wife and we're not equally yoked and vice versa, I'm not her husband. So [I'm] not a serial dater. If I'm not involved with somebody, I'm chillin' and focusing on things again that I don't like about myself and preparing myself for my forever.
Courtesy of Sammie
"If I'm not involved with somebody, I'm chillin' and focusing on things again that I don't like about myself and preparing myself for my forever."
Sammie On His Ideal Valentine’s Day Date...
Sammie: You have to pay attention to what your woman's been talking about maybe all year long. Definitely a nice dinner, something nice, candlelit. If she indulges in wine, Malbec is a good choice, I'm a red wine connoisseur, great conversation. I like interactive things like a movie is intimate but even bowling, something where we can kinda be free and it has to end in the right way. I think a nice sensual – [with] some music playing – bubble bath.
I think when you bathe someone that's one of the most intimate things outside of sex, and you learn new things about their body during that process and then you can end it with some amazing passionate safe sex. That's my ideal Valentine's Day.
Be sure to follow Sammie on Instagram. And check out his teaser for "Times 10" here.
Be sure to follow Sammie on Instagram. And check out his teaser for "Times 10" here.
Featured image courtesy of Sammie
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So, we handpicked one hundred It Girls who embody that palpable It Factor moving through us as young Black women, the kind of motion lighting up the world both IRL and across the internet.
It Girl 100 became xoNecole’s most successful program, with the hashtag organically reaching more than forty million impressions on Instagram in just twenty-four hours. Yes, it caught on like wildfire because we celebrated some of the most brilliant and influential GenZennial women of color setting trends and shaping culture. But more than that, it resonated because the women we celebrated felt seen.
Many were already known in their industries for keeping this generation fly and lit, but rarely received recognition or flowers. It Girl 100 became a safe space to be uplifted, and for us as Black women to bask in what felt like an era of our brilliance, beauty, and boundless influence on full display.
And then, almost overnight, it was as if the rug was pulled from under us as Black women, as the It Girls of the world.
Our much-needed, much-deserved season of ease and soft living quickly metamorphosed into a time of self-preservation and survival. Our motion and economic progression seemed strategically slowed, our light under siege.
The air feels heavier now. The headlines colder. Our Black girl magic is being picked apart and politicized for simply existing.
With that climate shift, as we prepare to launch our second annual It Girl 100 honoree list, our team has had to dig deep on the purpose and intention behind this year’s list. Knowing the spirit of It Girl 100 is about motion, sauce, strides, and progression, how do we celebrate amid uncertainty and collective grief when the juice feels like it is being squeezed out of us?
As we wrestled with that question, we were reminded that this tension isn’t new. Black women have always had to find joy in the midst of struggle, to create light even in the darkest corners. We have carried the weight of scrutiny for generations, expected to be strong, to serve, to smile through the sting. But this moment feels different. It feels deeply personal.
We are living at the intersection of liberation and backlash. We are learning to take off our capes, to say no when we are tired, to embrace softness without apology.
And somehow, the world has found new ways to punish us for it.
In lifestyle, women like Kayla Nicole and Ayesha Curry have been ridiculed for daring to choose themselves. Tracee Ellis Ross was labeled bitter for speaking her truth about love. Meghan Markle, still, cannot breathe without critique.
In politics, Kamala Harris, Letitia James, and Jasmine Crockett are dragged through the mud for standing tall in rooms not built for them.
In sports, Angel Reese, Coco Gauff, and Taylor Townsend have been reminded that even excellence will not shield you from racism or judgment.
In business, visionaries like Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye and Melissa Butler are fighting to keep their dreams alive in an economy that too often forgets us first.
Even our icons, Beyoncé, Serena, and SZA, have faced criticism simply for evolving beyond the boxes society tried to keep them in.
From everyday women to cultural phenoms, the pattern is the same. Our light is being tested.
And yet, somehow, through it all, we are still showing up as that girl, and that deserves to be celebrated.
Because while the world debates our worth, we keep raising our value. And that proof is all around us.
This year alone, Naomi Osaka returned from motherhood and mental health challenges to reach the semifinals of the US Open. A’ja Wilson claimed another MVP, reminding us that beauty and dominance can coexist. Brandy and Monica are snatching our edges on tour. Kahlana Barfield Brown sold out her new line in the face of a retailer that had been canceled. And Melissa Butler’s company, The Lip Bar, is projecting a forty percent surge in sales.
We are no longer defining strength by how much pain we can endure. We are defining it by the unbreakable light we continue to radiate.
We are the women walking our daily steps and also continuing to run solid businesses. We are growing in love, taking solo trips, laughing until it hurts, raising babies and ideas, drinking our green juice, and praying our peace back into existence.
We are rediscovering the joy of rest and realizing that softness is not weakness, it is strategy.
And through it all, we continue to lift one another. Emma Grede is creating seats at the table. Valeisha Butterfield has started a fund for jobless Black women. Arian Simone is leading in media with fearless conviction. We are pouring into each other in ways the world rarely sees but always feels.
So yes, we are in the midst of societal warfare. Yes, we are being tested. Yes, we are facing economic strain, political targeting, and public scrutiny. But even war cannot dim a light that is divinely ours.
And we are still shining.
And we are still softening.
And we are still creating.
And we are still It.
That is the quiet magic of Black womanhood, our ability to hold both truth and triumph in the same breath, to say yes, and to life’s contradictions.
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Yes, we are questioned. And we are the answer.
Yes, we are bruised. And we are still beautiful.
This year’s It Girl 100 is more than a list. It is a love letter to every Black woman who dares to live out loud in a world that would rather she whisper. This year’s class is living proof of “Yes, And,” women who are finding ways to thrive and to heal, to build and to rest, to lead and to love, all at once.
It is proof that our joy is not naive, our success not accidental. It is the reminder that our light has never needed permission.
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We celebrate the millions of us who keep doing it with grace, grit, and glory.
Because despite it all, we still shine.
Because we are still her.
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Meet all 100 women shaping culture in the It Girl 100 Class of 2025. View the complete list of honorees here.
Featured image by xoStaff
Then there were those who gave up their zip code altogether and found a permanent home in the skies. After years spent recruiting students for a university, Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare became a full-time travel influencer and founded her travel company, Shakespeare Agency. And she's not alone.
These stories mirror the experiences of women across the world. For millions, the pandemic induced a seismic shift in priorities and desires. Corporate careers that were once hailed as the ultimate “I made it” moment in one's career were pushed to the back burner as women quit their jobs in search of a more self-fulfilling purpose.
xoNecole spoke to these three Black women who used the pandemic as a springboard to make their wildest dreams a reality, the lessons they learned, and posed the question of whether they’ll ever return to cubicle life.
Answers have been edited for context and length.
xoNecole: How did the pandemic lead to you leaving the cubicle?
Randi: I was becoming stagnant. I was working in mortgage and banking but I felt like my personality was too big for that job! From there, I transitioned to radio but was laid off during the pandemic. That’s what made me go full throttle with entrepreneurship.
Gabrielle: I moved around a lot for work. Five times over a span of seven years. I knew I needed a break because I had experienced so much. So, I just quit one day. Effective immediately. I didn’t know what I was going to do, I just knew I needed a break and to just regroup.
Lisa-Gaye: I was working in recruiting at a university and my dream job just kind of fell into my lap! But, I never got to fully enjoy it before the world shut down in March [2020] and I was laid off. On top of that, I was stuck in Miami because Jamaica had closed its borders due to the pandemic before I was able to return.
Randi O
xoN: Tell us about your journey after leaving Corporate America.
Randi: I do it all now! I have a podcast, I’m an on-air talent, I act, and I own a public relations company that focuses on social media engagement. It’s all from my network. When you go out and start a business, you can’t just say, “Okay I’m done with Corporate America,” and “Let me do my own thing.” If you don’t build community, if you don’t build a network it's going to be very hard to sustain.
Gabrielle: I realized in New York, there was not a lot to do for Black lesbians and queer folks. We don’t really have dedicated bars and spaces so I started doing events and it took off. I started focusing on my brand, Raw Honey. I opened a co-working space, and I was able to host an NYC Pride event in front of 100,000 people. I hit the ground running with Raw Honey. My events were all women coming to find community and come together with other lesbians and queer folks. I found my purpose in that.
Lisa-Gaye: After being laid off, I wrote out all of my passions and that’s how I came up with [my company] Shakespeare Agency. It was all of the things that I loved to do under one umbrella. The pandemic pulled that out of me. I had a very large social media following, so I pitched to hotels that I would feature them on my blog and social media. This reignited my passion for travel. I took the rest of the year to refocus my brand to focus solely on being a content creator within the travel space.
Gabrielle
xoN: What have you learned about yourself during your time as an entrepreneur?
Randi: [I learned] the importance of my network and community that I created. When I was laid off I was still keeping those relationships with people that I used to work with. So it was easy for me to transition into social media management and I didn’t have to start from scratch.
Gabrielle: The biggest thing I learned about myself was my own personal identity as a Black lesbian and how much I had assimilated into straight and corporate culture and not being myself. Now, I feel comfortable and confident being my authentic self. Now, I'm not sacrificing anything else for my career. I have a full life. I have friends. I have a social life. And when you are happy and have a full quality of life, I feel like [I] can have more longevity in my career.
Lisa-Gaye: [I'm doing] the best that I've ever done. The discipline that I’m building within myself. Nobody is saying, ‘Oh you have to be at work at this time.’ There’s no boss saying, ‘Why are you late?’ But, if I’m laying in bed at 10 a.m. then it's me saying [to myself], 'Okay, Lisa, get up, it's time for you to start working!’ That’s all on me.
xoNecole: What mistakes do you want to help people avoid when leaving Corporate America?
Randi: You have to learn about the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. You have a fast season and a slow season and I started to learn that when you're self-employed the latter season hits hard. Don't get caught up on the lows, just keep going and don't stop. I’m glad I did.
Gabrielle: I think everyone should quit their job and just figure it out for a second. You will discover so much about yourself when you take a second to just focus on you. Your skill set will always be there. You can’t be afraid of what will happen when you bet on yourself.
Lisa-Gaye: When it comes to being an influencer the field is saturated and a lot of people suffer from imposter syndrome. There is nothing wrong with being an imposter but find out how to make it yours, how to make it better. If you go to the store, you see 10 million different brands of bread! But you are choosing the brand that you like because you like that particular flavor.
So be an imposter, but be the best imposter of yourself and add your own flair, your own flavor. Make the better bread. The bread that you want.
Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare
xoNecole: Will you ever return to your 9 to 5?
Randi: I wouldn’t go back to Corporate America. But I don’t mind working under someone. A lot of people try to get into this business saying, “I can't work under anyone.” That’s not necessarily the reason to start a business because you're always going to answer to somebody. Clients, brands, there’s always someone else involved.
Gabrielle: I went back! I really needed a break and I gave myself that. But, I realized I’m a corporate girl, [and] I enjoy the work that I do. I’m good at it and I really missed that side of myself. I have different sides of me and my whole identity is not Raw Honey or my queerness. A big side of me is business and that’s why I love having my career. Now I feel like my best self.
Lisa-Gaye: I really don’t. For right now, I love working for myself. It's gratifying, it's challenging, it's exciting. It’s a big deal for me to say I own my own business. That I am my own boss, and I'm a Black woman doing it.
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Featured image courtesy of Lisa-Gaye Shakespeare
Originally published on February 6, 2023